The Pros and Cons of the New 205 Live

If you have not been watching 205 Live in the past couple of weeks, you’ve been missing out. It’s everything you loved about the Cruiserweight Classic without everything you hated after the Cruiserweight Classic.

However, there are still flaws with the show.

It’s time once again for Ted Mosby’s favorite column. Pros and Cons.

PRO – Wrestling

205 Live is the home for wrestling on the main roster. Guys are given 10-plus minutes every match and delivery like we all knew they could. Roderick Strong and Hideo Itami just had the best television match in WWE this year. Minutes before the bell rang to start their bout, Kalisto and Gran Metalik had a great match.

On top of great wrestling, the story is simple. Everyone has one goal in mind. They want to fight for the cruiserweight title at WrestleMania. Sure, they’ll likely be pre-show’d, but they don’t know that right now. In their mind, this tournament is for a chance to compete in the main event on the biggest show of the year.

The simple story has led to great characters. The profile piece on Roderick Strong gave you a sense of who he is. TJ Perkins has turned into a cocky prick. Kalisto continues to do good lucha things. They all have their eye on the prize with different motivations fueling them. There are no love triangles or Superman feats of strength. It’s wrestling as sport.

CON – The Crowd

Those performing on 205 Live are at a huge disadvantage. The audience has already sat thought two hours of SmackDown and a half hour of the Mixed Match Challenge. Half of them have cleared out because A Show is over and they have no desire to stick around for the AJ Styles dark match. As good as the wrestling is, no one on 205 Live is seen as a star. I’ll get to that point in a second. But it makes for an uphill battle for the performers. Strong and Itami would have been an even better match if the crowd was hot from the start. Instead, it took them seven-eight minutes to get the crowd into it. It’s a credit to Strong and Itami, but goes to show how little people care about the show.

It gets them used to the WrestleMania pre-show, at least.

PRO – Triple H In Charge

It’s no coincidence that 205 Live got better when we all learned that Vince McMahon stepped down from overseeing the show, handing the reigns over to Triple H.

Here’s the great thing about Triple H: He’s very smart when it comes to booking anyone not named Triple H. We see it on NXT. It’s been the best weekly show in WWE for years. The TakeOver events are head and shoulders above the main roster events. He caters to multiple audiences and is in touch with what works in today’s wrestling. When he’s not involved in the story, he knows how to listen to the audience.

CON – RAW?

Remember when the cruiserweights were supposed to be a featured division on RAW? They got purple ropes and everything. They are now forgotten acts on RAW. They got a little bit of time on Monday, and delivered a good match with great commentary by Drake Maverick, but they are non-factors.

This tournament should be a bigger deal. The semi-finals should be held on the RAW before WrestleMania. Cut whatever Bray Wyatt is doing and give the cruiserweights some shin heading into WrestleMania.

Keeping everyone on 205 Live tells the audience that these guys still are not stars.

PRO – Drake Maverick

The best thing about 205 Live’s authority figure is that he’s staying out of the way. He’s not inserting himself into storylines. He’s not the focal point of the show. He’s telling guys to shape up and start taking this shit seriously. He’s William Regal. And William Regal is perfect.

Maverick does a great job selling the product and is bringing in talent that fans want to see. Tyler Bate was a nice surprise. Roderick Strong was not only a great surprise, but he won. Mark Andrews will be featured next week. I’m sure they’ll have one more first round surprise.

Maverick is the best GM on the main roster. And it’s not even close.

CON – End Game

As great as 205 Live is right now, the future is worrying. We know WWE can do a great cruiserweight tournament. We don’t know if they can do a great follow-up. Recent history tells us that they can’t. But will that change under Triple H and this new direction? That remains to be seen.